COUNCILS across Wales have come under fire for introducing a range of inflation-busting service charges, in a move that has been dubbed a “stealth” council tax.

Prices for a range of activities and services as diverse as municipal sports, car parking, burials and social care, have seen phenomenal rises of up to 192% in parts of the nation.

Critics claim the rises leave residents bearing the brunt of spending cuts, on top of their annual council tax bills, while examples of local government excess – such as the six-figure pay packets paid to at least 50 council officials around Wales – continue.

Emma Boon, campaign director for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Instead of looking at making significant costs savings, many Welsh authorities are just hitting residents with extra fees – this is despite seeing council tax double over the past 10 years.”

Ms Boon said car parking, nurseries and other necessary services were easy targets.

“These are services that people have to continue to use and there is little they can do,” she said.

Councils across Wales have been left with difficult decisions to make in balancing their budgets, following the coalition government’s pledge last year to introduce massive public service spending cuts.

Earlier this week, for example, 7,000 workers at Neath Port Talbot council agreed to cuts in pay, overtime and travel allowances in a bid to minimise compulsory redundancies as the council looks to make £24m savings by 2014.

But there is growing evidence that the burden of savings is also being placed on families and homeowners in the form of increased fees, including:

Burial charges nearly doubling from £311 to £600 in Ceredigion;

garage hire rents going up 60% – from £5.52 to £8.46 – in just one year in Caerphilly;

and the cost of swimming increasing by an average 8.5%, and a 45-minute game of squash up 9% this year in Cardiff.

Cardiff councillor Ramesh Patel said: “This is absolutely the wrong time for these increases. Many people have lost their jobs and they use leisure centres to keep fit.

“Cardiff council has reserves of £11m, it should use some of that to keep prices down. I don’t believe some of the executive members deserve their salaries.”

A council spokesman said: “Casual prices in leisure facilities went up on January 4 in part due to the 2.5% increase on VAT. No further increases on casual charges are anticipated until April 2012. We understand that any increase during these economic times is difficult.”

Cardiff is not the only council using the tactic. Other councils implementing similar rises include Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Caerphilly.

Caerphilly council was criticised in December when it revealed plans to introduce a daily £1.50 charge at its nine station car parks, while Rhondda Cynon Taf council is considering increasing car-parking charges across the county. In Carmarthenshire several public protection fees and charges have been hiked.

A boatman’s licence has been increased to £50 from £37.50, and a licence for a pleasure craft has risen to £400 from £375. Parking charges have also been hiked with prices rising by a quarter in Carmarthen, from £1.60 to £2 on January 4.

And in the Swansea Valley, free car parking has been scraped in some areas.

The popular car park in Pontardawe’s High Street and the two in Herbert Street, all of which have been free, will attract charges of 50p for up to two hours, or £1 for up to four in new charges coming into force later this year.

Plaid Cymru Pontardawe branch’s vice-chairman Huw Evans described the new charging regime as a “stealth tax”.

In Swansea, car park charge increases are almost inevitable as the council has earmarked £400,000 worth of extra income from car parks over the next four years in its 2011/12 draft budget.

It comes against the backdrop of plans to save £600,000 by closing certain libraries and proposes cutting £1.3m from bus subsidies over the next four years, £120,000 from floral displays and £475,000 from reduced CCTV coverage.

Chris Holley, leader of Swansea council, said: “These are the toughest financial times for local government in a generation.”

In Flintshire, the county council plans to charge people more to use car parks, as the council attempts to save £10-£13m in the next financial year. The move, if implemented, would generate almost £1m for the council.

Town centre manager for Holywell, Medwyn Roberts, said increasing charges was not the best way to help meet the deficit.

“I understand cuts need to be made and the council needs to generate more income, but if they put parking fees up we may end up with a bigger problem on our hands,” he said. “People will go to supermarkets which have free parking and it is less likely they will come to spend their money in our towns.”

Meanwhile, in Powys reduced rates for the removal of nuisance pests have come to an end, the council has confirmed.

The council’s board said it agreed to remove half-price concessionary rates for nuisance pests in October because of the difficulties in verifying entitlement and to bring Powys in line with other Welsh authorities.

A council spokesman said: “The decision only affects nuisance pests like, wasps, hornets and fleas, and will mean that the half-price treatment will no longer be available to those receiving state pensions and means-tested benefits.”

Ms Boon of the TaxPayers’ Alliance claimed there was no justification for councils to plan increases in council tax or stealth taxes.

Its own latest figures show 51 council workers took home pay packets of more than £100,000 in 2008-09.

“They must cut wasteful spending,” she added. “Council tax has doubled in the last 10 years, without a correlating improvement in the speed or quality of services.”

Her comments echoed those of Prime Minister David Cameron, who has previously stated: “What I would say though to local authorities as they take part in this difficult process is, you know, look first at the costs that you can cut,” and England’s Local government minister Grant Shapps who said: “Only lazy councils will attempt to use residents to boost their bank balances and, I am sure, given the new levels of transparency in local government, the public won’t stand for it.”

But council leaders have pointed to swingeing cuts from central government, which will not only see the Assembly Government budget cut by £1.8bn by 2014-15, but also leave councils having to make tough choices in terms of possible job losses, service cuts and council tax rises.

A spokesman for the Welsh Local Government Association said: “The settlement councils will be receiving from the Assembly Government for next year will be by far the worst since devolution.

“In light of this, difficult decisions have to be made in terms of service provision and council tax levels, and prioritising the protection of the most vulnerable in our society. This has been expected for some time now and councils have been developing strategies for how they can best weather this storm.

“Inevitably the levels of fees and charges made for some council services will form a part of these strategies developed for the next few years. Recent research has shown that most people would rather pay for services than lose the service altogether and these are the sorts of decisions that councils are now facing.”